Been lurking for a while. Apologies if this post has been addressed elsewhere; I've used the search and haven't found much relevant information.

So:

How selective is the Furman academic scholarship? I'm a K-JD with paid academic research experience (no publications) and a 4.1x / 172; is that roughly within the range to be competitive, or are they looking to draw applicants with auto-admit numbers at HYS?

What are your takes on the Furman statement? Specifically, it asks to give some information about the field of legal scholarship you hope to pursue. I certainly have ideas about the field, but my worry is: Either I say generally the field I'd like to pursue, and sound like I don't have a super-sharp idea of research topics, or I try to be more specific, and risk saying something stupid to legal experts. I've obviously never attended law school, so I'm worried my ideas for scholarship will sound either general and vague or specific and uninformed. For those who're applying/applied/been accepted, did you detail a topic with reference to specific legal ideas and/or writers, or speak broadly about your interests?

A 4.1/172 is certainly in line with who gets the scholarship, although obviously it's necessary but not sufficient. I think K-JD will be the larger obstacle. Most, although not all, Furmans have either done graduate work in another field or are doing it concurrently. If you look at the current Furman bios you can get a sense of this, although it's somewhat misleading, given that each Furman class has 2-3 students to start, and then they add people after 1L if they have top grades. So if you look at the current 1Ls, of the two who have bios up on the website, both are PhD students.

As to the field of research, I would certainly try to provide a statement that is well-researched and relatively specific. The faculty know that you are largely unfamiliar with legal scholarship, but they want to see if you know what a research agenda looks like, and have interesting ideas. Think of it like an application to a Ph.D program: you won't be held to the dissertation topic you description in your application materials, and everyone knows that. The readers just want to know if you can formulate an interesting and sensible topic.

SamuelDanforth wrote:A 4.1/172 is certainly in line with who gets the scholarship, although obviously it's necessary but not sufficient. I think K-JD will be the larger obstacle. Most, although not all, Furmans have either done graduate work in another field or are doing it concurrently. If you look at the current Furman bios you can get a sense of this, although it's somewhat misleading, given that each Furman class has 2-3 students to start, and then they add people after 1L if they have top grades. So if you look at the current 1Ls, of the two who have bios up on the website, both are PhD students.

As to the field of research, I would certainly try to provide a statement that is well-researched and relatively specific. The faculty know that you are largely unfamiliar with legal scholarship, but they want to see if you know what a research agenda looks like, and have interesting ideas. Think of it like an application to a Ph.D program: you won't be held to the dissertation topic you description in your application materials, and everyone knows that. The readers just want to know if you can formulate an interesting and sensible topic.

I just noticed the first year Furmans' PhDs too. A quick google shows the guy with the unlisted bio also has a PhD . Oh well, I was planning on applying anyway so there's no harm in giving it a shot. Thanks!